Cafcass has put in place a ‘Domestic abuse practice policy’ for its family court advisors (FCAs) and children’s guardians, to reverse the current ‘contact at all costs culture’
In future, FCAs and guardians must avoid language such as ‘claims’ or ‘alleges’ in their reports to court on the best interests of the child, instead sticking to the words of child and adult victims since it is for the court to determine the facts.
Cafcass has set a starting point recommendation that a child not spend time with a parent, if that parent is being investigated by the police for a sexual offence, has a conviction for a sexual offence, or has served a prison sentence for violent and sexual offences.
FCAs and guardians must ‘provide clear, unequivocal, and compelling rationales’ in their reports to the court if they do not adhere to the starting points set out in the policy, or if they recommend ‘time with’ or ‘live with’ arrangements when domestic abuse is being investigated, has been found, is known or is reported by a child or adult.
The policy change is Cafcass’s response to a 2020 report by the Harm Panel, ‘Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases’, which set out a range of concerns. These included that key agencies work in silos, a ‘contact at all costs’ culture predominates, and the adversarial justice system does not effectively protect abuse victims. The panel reported that FCAs and guardians are not sufficiently resourced or trained, and prioritise children spending time with a parent even where the child says they don’t want to.
Cafcass chief executive Jacky Tiotto said: ‘No child or adult should have to live with or worry about the prospect of spending time with another adult who threatens, controls, abuses, and harms them.’
